Contact and Conquest:

I. Intro. Stuff: Where to start Am. History?

A. . . And the “D” word . . . And the “E word

B. Conquest: Imperialism, Colonialism, conquest by violence.

C. Euros “won” and Natives “lost.”

D. History says winners are superior. Are they though?

II. Indigenous People and Euro-Americans VERY DIFFERENT

A. Religion B. Political Structure C. Gender Roles D. EVERYTHING ELSE: Food, Clothing, Living

Style

III. Disease Mortality and it’s EFFECTS:

A. The New World had NO MORTAL PATHOGENS.

B. The Old World (Europe, Africa, Asia) was seething in Mortal Pathogens

C. Indigenous People faced 75-90% Disease Mortality

D. What’s that mean? Let’s imagine it’s US.

How Would YOU FEEL?

What are your Physical/Real World Problems?

What Questions do you Ask?

What Answers do you Find to your Questions?

You’d feel: Scared, afraid, anxious, happy you’re not dead, guilty you’re not dead, worried, and more. You’d be DEPRESSED.

You’d have problems with sanitation (all those dead people), food, safety/defense, travel, health care. In short– it’s the apocalypse.

You’d ask: Why me? Why US?

You’d Answer: Because God/the Higher Power is angry with me/us. We were bad. We weren’t good enough. We did something wrong.

IV. Cortez and the Aztecs

A. There’s the traditional story . . . Small force of White guys easily defeat all the Aztecs, the baddest Native Peoples EVER. Moral of Story? White guys are WAY Superior to NOT-White Guys.

B: The Real Story: Something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT.

1, Cortez takes off from Spain–

a sailor has Small Pox.

Cortez brings Small Pox with Him to the New World. Small Pox is Deadly, remember?

Natives are all “Hey Dudes! Hi! How about some Presents.”

Natives Contract Small Pox. Bummer!

Natives spread Small Pox back to Center of AZTEC Empire faster than Cortez can travel. Aztecs get small pox. 75-90% Dead.

Also, No One Told You: The Aztecs were Super-Pro-War and Conquest. They Defeated and

Turned into Slaves a LOT of the peoples of “Mexico.” Those People didn’t like the Aztecs—

So Cortez travels along, with a female translator named Manlinche (or Malintzin) and talks these angry people into joining him in some Aztec-Butt-Kicking. Thousands join the small Spanish force.

When the Get to Tenochtitlan, the capitol of the Aztec Empire, Small Pox has been there First. 75-90% are Dead. Moctezuma has just seen the Apocalypse hit his empire. They don’t or can’t fight Cortez, or not well.

PLUS, Cortez has this big force of non-dead natives, so Moctezuma is outnumbered. To save his empire and his still living people, he negotiates with Cortez.

NEW MORAL OF THE STORY: The Spanish didn’t win because they were superior. They won because they got “lucky” in that small pox defeated most of their enemy and that the enemies of their enemies were willing to help. Spanish get what they want: Control of Meso-America and all it’s Gold. That’s CONQUEST!

Big Finish:

1. “Winners” don’t win history. History isn’t WON.

2. Even if it was, Winners don’t win because they’re superior. That’s only true in Sports.

3. Life isn’t SPORT. Life is unfair. Sports are fair. Life is unfair!

4. History doesn’t prove who’s superior and who is not. Life isn’t that simple. Euro-Americans won the Conquest because of their advantage in the Disease Mortality game. They’d have won, even if they hadn’t been dicks and killed a lot of people.